Stray
by InsaneScriptist
Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.
1. Chapter 1

Stray by InsaneScriptist

Beta'd by the lovely Umei no Mai

Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.

* * *

><p>Daniela, better known as Ottava of the Vongola was born in 1910 and was in power as Boss of the Mafia's most infamous and influential Famigla from 1933 to 1950. Her only son and successor was born in 1931, which due to his being male and having Sky Flames might have been the only reason Daniela was elected to become the 8th Boss over a more distant cousin. If that hadn't happened then history might have been different.<p>

Daniela the retired Ottava of the Vongola was a highly accomplished woman. She was a woman that broke the traditional molds and thoughts of the mafia during a time of social change, survived the second World War, helped with the Italian Economic Miracle after said war was over and managed to lead the Vongola to unprecedented economic power and influence. She founded and implemented revolutionary and successful ideas such as Mafia Schools and Mafia Hospitals, formally developed and founded the Vongola's Research and Development Division and was a key underground figure even decades after she retired from being the Ottava of the Vongola.

She was also a ruthless tyrant, a good mother, a better boss and a truly horrible enemy. As a negotiator, she scared other bosses with her mere presence and sweet smile as if they were sitting in the room with Lucifer himself. She also took shameless advantage of both the terror she inspired and her feminine nature; not even other mafia women could deny that Daniela had mafia seduction down to an art form. Her subordinates loved her and her enemies hated and feared her utterly.

She had many other achievements like razing and utterly destroying a few famiglias promoting the war, being a good single mother, and her outstanding marksmanship which had actually sunk a battleship. No, the last part wasn't a lie, she actually did that with her crossbow in the Second World War.

Daniela's mere existence during and after her reign might have contributed to the rumors of the Vongola being utterly ruthless, and an empire built of corpses, drowning in blood and sin. You don't survive and keep your territory through World War Two without killing and making a lot of enemies.

While many mafia historians would praise her insight, her business sense and terrifying reputation as both general and warrior, not many knew her well as a person. Daniela kept a small circle, generally confined to her guardians so not many knew her outside of a professional environment, or admitted that they did.

Even what she had written in the Vongola Books as Ottava was kept to a minimum, barely giving away even a hint of her true personality. Upon reading them when he succeeded her, Nono was somewhat aghast to find that she had used them both as a day planner and mommy book when not doodling out enemy base schematics and how to destroy them, especially during the Second World War. It was very educational about how she was as Ottava of the Vongola but not very informative about what she was like as a person. It told you that she was a proud mother -_Timeteo led his first raid today!_- and held disparaging remarks, usually about other bosses allies or not, subordinates and plans to upgrade things. Compliments were very rare though.

It's how Nono learned that his mother thought Coyote Nougat was an eager to please puppy and was glad that Visconti proved true to blood and that he had the traditional Visconti good sense. The comments about Nono's other Guardians were less complimentary but she supposed that they'd work well enough in keeping her son alive. It was such a backhanded compliment that it was actually insulting.

That most of the world didn't know much of her personally instead of professionally might have been for the better. Daniela was... eccentric. Oh, she was everything history and rumor painted her to be but she was more than that. See, Daniela was eccentric and some might even say crazy because she had an enabler; that enabler was her Mist Guardian and older brother figure when she was younger. He was also the only original Guardian she had left.

The Second World War was hard and difficult for all that she survived it; she went through six Lightnings during that time, as well as three Rains, a Sun, a Cloud and two Storms. Her second Cloud Guardian later died due to complications from being wounded in the war, only to be replaced by his younger sister, Adriana Visconti, who was the mother to her son's own Cloud Guardian.

On another note, the Visconti family had more or less monopolized the position of the Cloud Guardian since Vongola Terzo took them into the Vongola. They did the position proud.

* * *

><p>Daniela was only forty years old when she retired from being the Ottava of the Vongola. This didn't mean she left the mafia to settle down quietly and be a granny like most had hoped for and expected. No, being retired gave Daniela a lot of free time; time which could be spent terrorizing other bosses into submission, time for espionage and time to train subordinates, and time to make sure that those she had hired to teach at the Mafia Schools she built knew what they were doing and kept to the standards she implemented. Time also to spoil grandchildren and teach them how to shoot and hunt assassins while managing to look fabulous.<p>

Daniela was a terrifying teacher, as she had trained the man who trained Reborn before he was Reborn, the Number One Hitman in the World. The only reason her student wasn't well known was because he had liked it better that way before he died due to contaminated food. It actually wasn't the contamination in the food that killed him; it was the allergic reaction that happened from it. Reborn might have added his own twists to the teaching style to suit him, but it was truly effective.

The former Ottava of the Vongola was not one to retire quietly, even for her own sake due to being over eighty either. While she had scaled down some, she was still an unspoken terror to see coming towards you at a social gathering. She was the most feared little old lady ever; the fact that she had to deal with more attempts at killing her after the war and in her retirement was rather telling in how many people desperately wanted her permanently out of the way. They hadn't succeed to their dismay as Daniela was still alive and cackling gleefully when she dropped the nearly dead assassins off or pinned them like human butterflies to their famiglia's base.

Breakfasting with her two remaining Guardians, Adriana Visconti and her Mist who was even older than she was, Daniela abruptly said, "I want a kitty."

Adriana, long since resigned to babysitting the older two only sighed. Daniela was whimsical like that. "Do you wish to have one purchased for you or..."

"No. I'm going to find him myself. I want to pick him up myself."

"I'll call the car..."

"I'll drive."

"Please don't." Adriana pleaded.

"Too late!" Daniela cheered, as she dragged her Cloud Guardian behind her like a woman much younger than someone approaching eighty.

Noticing that the Mist Guardian who was Daniela's willing enabler and accomplice sliding over to the passenger seat told the Cloud Guardian that she would have to suffer Daniela's driving. Muttering prayers to God and cursing the cheery demented old man sitting in the front to the depths of Purgatory, Adriana checked to make sure that a bag to sick up in was present. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.

* * *

><p>Woozy and shaken but not actually having thrown up, Adriana stepped out of the car. She had noticed that Daniela had been circling and winding down streets until she parked the car and dashed out. While she was waiting for her stomach to settle from her Boss' ad-hoc driving -the only reason they hadn't had a ticket was due to her fellow Guardian's illusions- but Adriana could only blame the Vongola's famed intuition for not having a wreck considering how many near-misses they had. It hadn't helped that the Mist had been cheering and hollering like they were in a race and urging Daniela to take the corners even faster.<p>

Cars were supposed to stay on four wheels, which is why they had four wheels. Shivering, she noticed that the both of them had left, leaving her to guard the car. As it was a classic and this was a slum neighborhood it really needed guarding.

* * *

><p>"Adriana! Start the car!" Daniela yelled.<p>

Adriana obeyed but before sliding into the back, she was rolling down the passenger window and shifting the stick to drive on the way. Seeing that Daniela was carrying two people -one woman, one child- she couldn't exactly fight. That was fine as illusions were tangling with the mob of incensed individuals after Daniela. Adriana opened the back door.

Daniela then pitched the two people into the back with her Cloud Guardian before kicking back door shut, giving herself enough momentum flip over the car and slide in through the front passenger seat window. The illusionist materialized in the front driver's seat and immediately accelerated. Daniela slid a cross-bow out from under her shawl and shot into the crowd of people following them. The bolts were accurately shot and hit all those holding weapons so they couldn't do something like think they could get away with blowing out the tire; Daniela was cackling all the way as they drove off.

As they returned to Vongola territory at a more sedate pace, Adriana had to ask. "I thought you were getting a kitten."

Without saying anything or missing a beat, the illusionist produced a headband with cat ears. Daniela, ignoring all the road rules and safety laws as always, wasn't bound by her seat belt and so was able to reach into the back and place the ears on the young male child. He looked about five or so; probably on the older end but a little physically stunted due to malnutrition. This probably wasn't too bad of a case, slum or not, as it wasn't a wretched hive of scum and villainy that other slums became; clearly whoever was supposed to manage this part of the Vongola territory was falling down on their job. Good, she needed a reason to get out and bust some heads.

"What the fuck?" He uttered, probably now breaking out of the shock that being kidnapped by a crazy old lady and her equally old accomplices had put him in.

Adriana as the only relatively sane person with a clue felt obligated to explain, at least a little. "Kid, the crazy old lady is Daniela, the Ottava of the Vongola. She's gotten more eccentric since she's retired; my condolences on the loss of your humanity, as she has decided that you're her new cat and there is _nothing_ you can do to get her to change her mind."

"Are you fucking serious?" He questioned as he looked around for sanity in a car with Daniela in it; he was doomed to failure. Daniela just waved at him and scratched his head -as if he really were a cat- while her fellow Guardian was happy enough to be mistaken for one of Santa's elves at Christmas, his heavily tanned and wrinkled skin so heavily creased by his massive grin that his eyes were invisible.

"What the fuck." He repeated faintly, clearly retreating back into shock, not even attempting to remove the cat-eared headband.

Adriana's stomach was at least thankful that her fellow Guardian was driving, even if she knew that there was more going on than just a random abduction. Daniela might be deeply eccentric but she was also a war-veteran and former mafia boss; she had reasons for every single little thing she did no matter how bizarre and it might just be the famed intuition acting up to snap the kid up before some other family did.

Nonetheless, she wouldn't want to be Nono, who would likely piece together that his mother had gone out on another outing soon. If he didn't, well, she'd have to make sure the lesson about complacency would stick. Her own son knew better but the others were prone to slipping... so they'd have to be reminded. Preferably as embarrassingly as possible, as that way they were more likely to remember.

* * *

><p>In where Daniela is the most awesome little old lady ever. Enjoy the crack, but this actually has some plot to it.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Stray by InsaneScriptist

Beta'd by the efficient Umei no Mai

Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.

* * *

><p>There were conflicting reports coming in from various subordinates about an incident in a relatively nearby less prosperous area. There were no clear reports about the identity of the attackers, simply because illusionists could easily fake identities and other flames with ease if they were any good at it being illusionists. As this was happening in Vongola territory and they were being blatant about it, then they at least thought they were good.<p>

Supposedly, the attackers had stolen a woman who worked in one of the oldest professions around and her young son. The team was clearly well trained and young because some of the feats done couldn't be done by older people, like vault over a dumpster one-handed.

They were worried about whether the woman kidnapped was a spy or her son was valuable up until they received reports about the crossbow bolt injuries.

Timoteo's Guardians looked at each other and groaned in unison, "Ottava."

Then in a show of incredible childish unity they instantly abandoned Visconti and Nono to deal with the matter, using all manner of excuses, some of which Visconti knew to be blatantly false. Nono just sighed and quickly called Coyote Nougat back. As Coyote was Timoteo's right hand, he_ had_ to go.

Visconti could only sigh at their silliness, the Ottava wasn't that terrifying. She meant well by all the terror she left behind her in a wake of chaos and confusion and the fear she inspired among the younger Vongola mafiosi was not _usually_ deliberate on her part. Not that she didn't take advantage of the fear but when Ottava was being deliberately and truly scary, people knew it.

People who had witnessed it from far away on the World War's sidelines had been trying to kill her for years even after retiring, as a way to prevent her from laying waste to her enemies. Visconti thought the fools should count themselves lucky that Ottava found their attempts more amusing than an actual threat.

* * *

><p>After the drive to manor that Ottava had <em>officially <em>retired to, they were escorted by a low-level mafioso to the room the retired Vongola boss. Well, actually, less low-level and more of less experienced. Ottava couldn't stand weakness or complacency and kept everyone on her staff war-ready, which included everyone who worked in the building right down to the pre-teen kitchen helpers and gardeners' assistants. The mafiosi here were well-trained and swiftly became rather experienced due to the fact that Ottava still had assassination attempts even after retiring. They had tapered off for a while but now that Ottava was approaching her eighties they thought she was a soft target and had picked up again.

Ottava was many things but soft was never going to be one of them.

The escort opened the door only for Coyote to be hit by an airborne rolled-up newspaper to the face. Perfectly accurate to the face as always.

The male Visconti had to admit that Coyote at least had a reason to dislike visiting the Ottava; this was Coyote's traditional greeting from the Ottava by the way. It was something that never made any sense to Visconti until Nono had shared that she thought Coyote was a type of dog and he should fetch. Obviously this and her continued eccentric behavior had never endeared Nono's Storm Guardian to her.

Coyote when he was younger would try to dodge, but the Sixth had taught Daniela how to throw a boomerang. Needless to say, dodging did not work and trying to catch it had even less success. Coyote eventually settled on stoicism, but the Storm Guardian was never the best at that. Neither did his attempts at avoiding the Ottava back when the rest of Timoteo's guardians were gullible enough to go for it; Ottava did hunt him down. His irritation was easy to read.

Visconti greeted the Ottava formally, and then his mother less formally. Then asked to be introduced to the young, recently cleaned and dressed in what he could identify as hand-me-downs, though the decently modern cut and style said they were probably from one of Timoteo's sons rather than having belonged to Timoteo himself. The boy's hair was still wet, brushed back and he had a cat eared headband on. Visconti could tell that they were produced by Mist Flames, and the boy might not even know they were there.

"This is Xanxus. He's my new kitty!" Then the Ottava critiqued Xanxus' table manners, which she was teaching him in her own unique way. Ottava's way of teaching was very effective but involved lots of violence and subtle brainwashing via carefully judged approval and astonishingly rare compliments disguised as more insults.

Visconti, no fool, realized that Daniela was currently plotting something. His mother was already resigned to it and was helping out, adjusting the kid's posture and explaining things as she went. Etiquette lessons were always to be feared in the Visconti household; his mother was a stickler for them.

There was more conversation about what happened to Xanxus' mother, who had been blatantly kidnapped by Ottava before eight in the morning in a fashion that seemed to come straight from the history books or bad movies, back when 'talkies' were just becoming popular. She was currently being detoxified -the quick physical had determined she was on something- and checked for mind tampering. The reason being that she was utterly convinced that it was Timoteo who was Xanxus' father as the young boy had Sky Flames; not only that, but he actually had Secondo's Wrath Flames.

The Cloud Guardian hadn't seen evidence of anything destroyed by Dying Will Flames, so clearly whatever tantrum was thrown happened in another suite of rooms. Possibly a different wing of the modest manor, or somewhere in the extensive grounds.

"You haven't been frequenting places like that since your wife has passed have you? If you have, you'll have broken your poor mother's heart since she tried her best to raise you..." Daniela paused, "..and I'd rather hoped you had better taste. There's nothing romantic about squalor, young man!"

Visconti had to give Tia 'tava -his childhood nickname for Ottava- credit. She was a master manipulator and unashamed to use even the most blatant of guilt trips. He resisted the urge to bawl and confess his sins, few as they were, such as not being able to spend as much time with his grandchildren as he wanted. Clearly, he would have to clear some time off for that. Quickly, before Ottava decided to do something about his negligence.

"Plus, Mommy would have to kill you if you had been betraying your wife's memory like that."

There was a pause, where Timoteo confessed that he hadn't, which the Ottava scrutinized her son's face. Visconti was sure she'd eventually clear her son of all suspicion but she might have found something else. A mother's intuition and the Vongola's famed hyper-intuition were very hard to counter individually, but combined they were nigh-inescapable. Seeing the two of them have what seemed to be a staring contest was unnerving.

A paper airplane made of Mist Flames sailed into the room to interrupt the minutes long staring contest. Ottava caught, unfolded and read the note, and then read it again aloud. To summarize, there was some very heavy handed Mist mind tempering done to the boy's mother which was caught early enough that salvaging sanity was possible. There were also a number of drugs in her system that needed to be flushed out, which also had the effect of screwing with her brain and keeping her docile. Well from those that they had identified already; date-rape drugs had never gone out of fashion to use on prostitutes since they were first mass produced, so they were checked for first.

In short, it looked like it was some small-time famiglia's amateur attempt to discredit the Vongola in some slight way. That they were dealing drugs to keep women like that so close to Vongola territory was bad enough. Clearly someone had missed something and had been missing it for some time which could mean checking those responsible for that area for the same mental tampering. Or possibly for bribery, laziness and general incompetence, which would be more embarrassing. Either way, housekeeping would happen and people would end up dead and disgraced for it if they weren't mind muddled, which should have been reported by those that dealt with those individuals on a regular basis.

Visconti knew that the Vongola had a lot of work ahead of them. Looks like he'd have to bring the grandkids to work, so they could get more practice at the physical aspects. Being in school all the time was fine with theory but some things had to be done to really learn how to do it. There were things that school didn't teach you, mafia school or not.

"So he has a porn stash and he isn't my father?"

"Seems like it Xanxus-kitty. How far along is science it determining paternity anyway? We could always get those tests done as further proof for or against it... Oh, good guess kitty. Do I have to burn Marilyn Monroe posters again?"

The boy had decent intuition himself; Visconti resigned himself to seeing him around a lot and getting roped into educating him once Ottava had beaten manners and a basic education into his skull. He could tell that Xanxus was the type that would thrive under Ottava's personal teaching and turn absolutely terrifying and lethal under it. That wasn't that bad, as Ottava would make sure he would be loyal. What would be bad is if he ever picked up Ottava's sense of humor and some of her more eccentric habits.

"Are you keeping him, mother?" Timoteo asked instead, dodging the question and subject entirely. Visconti would have preferred a less redundant question though.

"Of course I'm keeping him and his mother. I always wanted more grandchildren and you were the only hope for that so I only had three grandsons and I still have no great-grandchildren to spoil, beyond what Alonza has provided me."

The fact that Timoteo's youngest child and only daughter was married before her brothers was something of a sore point for Timoteo for several reasons, the least of which that his sons weren't exactly what he was looking for in a successor and Alonza would have been an ideal if she had been born a Sky. Enrico, despite being the eldest was least suited to the position of Boss in temperament for the position out of Timoteo's sons and Massimo was a diplomatic disaster waiting to happen; Massimo would have all the allies up in arms and waiting to attack within a week. Federico was the closest due to having a full set of Guardians, who he liked to give the slip and spend time with his woman of the week; Visconti was of the opinion that Federico needed more responsibility, while Timoteo was confident enough in Federico's skills and was all for letting him run wild despite the many lectures on why such behavior was a horrible, horrible idea. Due to Timoteo's wife's death Alonza was practically raised by her grandmother after toddlerhood and turned out horribly capable like her grandmother for all that people missed that behind her normal placid and serene exterior.

Visconti knew that the lack of attempts to kill Alonza had to deal more with the fact that Alonza had a Rain Flame and wasn't seen as the second coming of her grandmother due to it. Not having the Sky Flames needed for being the heir made her practically invisible in Mafia circles. Perfect for the fact that she did run the Varia until she retired due to impending motherhood. Now, the young Sword Emperor, Tyr, ran it.

"Why is that dear porn-loving son?"

Visconti had to admit that per usual, Ottava was terrifying in all the best ways.


	3. Chapter 3

Stray by InsaneScriptist

Beta'd by the industrious Umei no Mai

Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.

* * *

><p>After her son and his only two guardians brave enough to come with him to see his mother left, Daniela sighed.<p>

"Stupid boy, trying to chastise his mother? Surely I raised him to be more respectful than that! Nebbia!" She summoned her Mist Guardian and oldest friend. They knew each other so well that they didn't even have to talk. "How is she?"

Fedele's lips twitched.

"Not good is it? At least they hadn't started drugging you. There's more to just cutting the dose to medicating kids, so it really could have screwed you up." Daniela mentioned as she corrected Xanxus' posture again.

"It was in the damn drinks." Xanxus countered, reluctantly straightening his spine once more.

"Now, that's a waste of alcohol." Adriana muttered. This comment only made sense when you knew that the Visconti family had been managing vineyards for the Vongola for centuries; wasting alcohol then, was something they considered a heinous crime. Planning revenge for such activity would probably be discussed over the family's dinner table.

"Good boy for noticing that." Daniela patted his head again, not commenting on his poor language yet. One step at a time. "Such damage though, that Mist had no idea what he was doing."

"How do you know it's a he?" Adriana asked.

Daniela gestured at Fedele. He then smirked and disappeared in a flash of Mist Flames.

"Can I kill whoever fucked with my mother's head?"

"You can kill the person who messed with your mother's mind, and the ones who gave the order and plotted it out too; once we find out who they are and get you trained well enough to do it. Breaking into a base isn't that easy, you know."

"Oh, so can you find out who my actual father is while you're at it?"

"That's actually easy enough, although the accuracy is less than desired." Daniela replied. "Science would be more accurate, but more mystical means are pretty easy, especially since I have only a vague idea how science would do that."

Daniela was of course lying about the last. Being the Vongola Boss that had formalized the Vongola's Research and Development Division meant she was very well informed about the latest breakthroughs in weaponry, medicine and research. In numerous ways, mafia styled research was well ahead of its civilian counterparts as concerns about ethical treatment were often ignored which allowed them to pioneer the medical technology and sell it to the civilian masses later. While Genetics was still a young field, she did know that determining paternity was possible just from comparing the Y-chromosomes of the suspected father and the child in question, provided the child was a boy.

It could easily be done but giving the researchers a sample of her son's genes and Xanxus' to compare would be risking the information getting out. Plus, using the more 'mystical' means would give her more information to work with.

Fedele reappeared, holding a quill and paper. Using a hidden knife, he quickly made an incision on Xanxus' hand and let the blood pool on the paper. Then he tapped the quill with Mist Flames and it drew out a family tree, complete with birth and death dates.

"Wow." Xanxus admitted, as he stared at the piece of paper.

"It's not a perfectly accurate technique, so it's not acceptable as proof but it is a start." Adriana explained. "It gets more inaccurate the further you reach back, names spelled wrong or put in the wrong generation. See here on your mother's side, three generations back, these names aren't spelled right, while these two generations back on your father's side are completely mangled. The dates are also backwards there, see?"

"It also has other flaws, as it isn't very helpful if no one knows who it is that's mentioned and written records only go so far and aren't the most accurate, for all the talk about storing them electronically nowadays. People being adopted and not being told about it really wreaks havoc with this process, especially if it happened a few generations back when taking in extended family, even those by marriage, due to death or whatever reason was more common. That's one of the reasons the technique fell out of fashion and has become obscure since it works purely on what the blood is, not what you think it is." Daniela further expounded. "See, here, this is your actual name, and your birthday is accurate, October Tenth, Nineteen Seventy Seven."

Xanxus clearly knew how to read already, since he could comprehend what he saw. His eyes traced over the paper with intent, not just wonderment.

"I keeping Xanxus anyway."

"Good choice. I recommend it actually. Better if everyone thinks you and your mother are just strays I took in on one of my whims, so be a good kitty."

"Those are your terms?"

"Oh, there are others, but you won't find them too arduous. They can even benefit you more than you could expect. Education, training, connections and the like will do all that. The Vongola is the best for a reason." Daniela replied, smoothly.

"You have a deal, old hag."

"Call me Grandma, little kitty."

* * *

><p>After putting her new charge to bed and making sure he stayed asleep -Rain Flames were a mother's dearest friend when they wanted to make sure their kids would sleep through the night. Admittedly, her first Rain Guardian had discovered the trick back when her son was tiny and colicky and none of them were getting enough sleep, but it really helped in both getting a kid or others to sleep and making sure they stayed there. It also helped those with shell-shock mellow out and not act up from flashbacks.<p>

"I clearly struck gold! He's a bright boy and understands reality!" Daniela cackled, content to know that the sound wouldn't be heard beyond them. They were in her chambers, a barrier of Mist Flames surrounding them to prevent any unwanted transmission of knowledge.

"How's his mother?"

Xanxus's mother, no, Marcella's less than legal medications had all been identified; it was a mess for all that most of them weren't addictive. They were however mentally destabilizing especially when taken over a long time. All of the higher-class crime families -especially those that had flame capable people- did not dabble in drugs for a reason; the effect of most illegal drugs hit the body and brain hard.

Smoking and alcohol were allowed because the effects were minimal and could be done for years with little issue; other drugs like crack, heroin or ecstasy were avoided. Long term ecstasy use actually caused holes in the brain tissue, while crack and heroin ruined clear thought processes. There was the occasional addict to opiates or other pain medications but good doctors and Sun Flames made such cases minimal in any proper famiglia. Those that favored smoking pot, well the effects of pot could last for hours so any sudden attack could see them dead, so most decent mafioso either never went into drugs or found themselves dead in short order. It didn't help that narcotics like pot wrecked judgement in a dangerous situation; people died when they didn't react to danger properly.

Most of those who were Flame capable never went into the heavier substances after finding out what the lesser drugs like alcohol and nicotine did to their control unless they knew how to mitigate any issues; alcoholics were very good at covering for any issues they might have due to drinking which did translate over some to other issues that might have caused the alcoholism in the first place. So smoking and drinking were allowed, everything else was frowned upon, possibly to their death or destruction.

Thankfully, except for some minor damage, everything else was fixable with enough imagination and knowledge. Date-rape drugs, mild sedatives and the like were easy enough fixes; some of the things she had probably been fed while under them were less easy fixes.

"I used an Anchored Illusion."

"That bad?"

"Just as a precaution until she can do it herself."

"What did she test as?"

"She probably was a Sky herself, if an unaware one, but the drugs and mind screws likely damaged the balance of Flames and wrecked whatever harmony she might have had. Now she's reading as both Storm and Mist. The next flame she might be capable of materializing is Lightning."

The two elderly women winced. A recipe for a nightmare was a Mist on a hallucinogen. The previous mental tampering would have made a recipe for disaster if Marcella was flame-active. Even so, just because people weren't flame-active didn't mean that they couldn't show signs of what flame they actually were.

There really wasn't a combination more damning than that when drugs were taken into account. Storms were all about attacking and never retreating, Lightnings tended towards obsession for one reason or another and a delusional Mist was actually pretty common when drugs and lack of training were taken into account. That she had her son believing in her delusion was bad enough; as young as he was, he wouldn't be too heartbroken about the facts being wrong, especially if it was explained to him as due to the drugs. One tantrum later after the facts were properly explained and he was all primed to kill whoever did that to his mother. He was such a good little boy.

"So any other sign of who it was?"

"While the Mist showed all the signs of a total neophyte, the rest of them were good. Very good."

"That's not a good sign." Adriana said, as someone needed to. "She's salvageable though right?"

"The Anchored Illusion is feeding off of her flames, slowly fixing the worst of the mental damage and drawing out repressed memories since she's missing time. She's missing about two years worth completely, with areas of her childhood and teenage years missing as well. After that is therapy, training and the rest of her recovery depends on her own will."

"The mental conditioning was precise in how her mind was tampered with despite how 'rough' it appeared. Any chance the Mist is faking his competency?" The Cloud Guardian asked, taking all possibilities into account.

"Possible, but unknown. Likelihood is high though."

"Damaging a female Sky like that is stupid on any famiglia's part since a half competent Sky can only benefit the famiglia, more so if she has a kid with a Sky Flame. It's a noted trend that female Skies tend to have Sky children, or else Timoteo wouldn't have had so many cousins with other Flames from your own siblings, Daniela. It just doesn't make sense though unless we want to check through other similar institutions to find a pattern." Adriana grimaced at the thought of doing so, much less doing so repeatedly through all the institutions they could find.

The Vongola were against human trafficking, which -if the workers were there against their will- this would count as, along with the sex trade. If both were happening so close to a Vongola base, someone was trying to give the Vongola reputation a big black mark and were succeeding; not for long though, if Ottava and her Guardians had a say in it.

"At least we managed to get Xanxus. It would be a disaster it someone else got a hold of him now, or got to him later." As it was Daniela saying that, her Guardians believed her.

"The kid would grow up strong anyway, he wouldn't have anything else." The Cloud Guardian stated.

"But would he retain his humanity? Even if my son picked him up and claimed him as his could you imagine?" Daniela asked.

"Considering how mad he was earlier when he was told that you doubted his paternity? Finding out that he was adopted would be a disaster especially since he probably would have had boss training and worked his way up the ranks. He's got a personality and temperament ideal for the Varia, so..." Adriana trailed off, as the other two could fill in the blanks about what would happen if a young Xanxus actually believed he was Timeteo's son and found proof otherwise when he either led or was part of the Varia.

"Crises averted?" Fedele asked.

"No, we still have to raise him and make him into a loyal kitty. One that goes off to fetch presents to bring home for his master."

"Ah, so pre-Varia training?" Adriana asked.

"I was thinking Heir-training, followed by specifics traditions for the CEDEF and all the Houses of the Vongola actually." Daniela explained. "One of the current issues between the Vongola Houses is the lack of communication and understanding. Since Alonza retired from the Varia and her husband with her, they've transferred to the Vongola Reserve Force and the Medical Response Team respectively. The current CEDEF leader is in the same mold as the last; a spineless yes man. Getting someone there that understands the rest of the Houses would be best, but I'd take someone with a spine and the ability to use it too. A brain would be good too, so they'd be smart enough to prevent issues like this from ever starting."

"Yes, the current boss of the CEDEF is less than ideal; Timeteo is going to have to appoint someone from that House to Boss soon since the current CEDEF Boss had such a massive failure but a lot of the candidates are less than ideal. The fact that slums actually developed this close to home is worrying, especially concerning their competence in so many areas. That House probably needs cleaning." Adriana added, as if she hadn't politely mentioned what would probably kill at least a dozen people if the CEDEF was infested as she thought it was. "We can plot about how to get that done later though, we need to focus on getting Xanxus educated before anything else."

"He's getting Heir-training, it's a bit excessive but it needs to be done." Daniela replied, a firmness to her face that told both Guardians her intuition was active.

"That's a heavy workload to be starting this late, just in basic requirements alone. Then there's the Varia requirements on top of that. Never mind how much else, including the basics of being socially acceptable. While the Varia won't care about manners, the other Houses of the Vongola require them and even if he ends up Varia anyway they will benefit him."

"We can help the mother's therapy by teaching her such along side her son; she probably wishes to move up in the world from where she's been. She'd make a decent hitman, even with her experiences." Daniela mentioned. "Possibly better than decent. You did mention she was well-educated by civilian standards in your message earlier, so we'll have to see how much of that remains."

"Yeah, we have to find work for her to do, beyond laying on her back. How soon until detox is over?"

"She's currently in a Rain-induced sleep, with an IV for nutrients since blood tests proved she was low on a few of them. Xanxus is scheduled for a full physical and medical examination tomorrow, so his diet can be adjusted accordingly. She's got another line for some antibiotics as she tested positive for two STDs. Both thankfully curable, unlike a few others that are out there. While she can sleep off most of the sedatives and a number of other drugs it is what will happen after a few days of that that is a matter of concern."

"Withdrawal concerns?"

"Yes, those."

"Fuck."

"Language."

"Sorry, I'm angered on the kitty's behalf."

"That's perfectly understandable. I'm quite angered too." Fedele added brightly.

Adriana felt the need to pray for the enemy's quick death, despite how unlikely they were to get it.

* * *

><p>Anyway in the 1st chapter, it was mentioned that Timoteo was born in '31. At the start of HKR, he's 70, which gives you the time frame all HKR occurred in 2000-1. So minus about Tsuna's age gives you the year Tsuna is born in, which is 1987 since he's only 13 when HKR starts. Xanxus is ten years years older than Tsuna so he's born in 1977.<p>

So yeah, in terms of technology I have the mafia being at least 2 decades ahead in some areas such as medical, firearms, security and the like due to Ottava's influence. So while the human genome project didn't start until the 90's the mafia already have the tech for some of the basics and know not to let information like that get out because there's enough rumors about Nazi-science and experimentation... and some of that might be true.

So if Xanxus was real and it was 2014, and the dates were reality... he'd be 37. At least we know he ages well thanks to the future arc. *drool*


	4. Chapter 4

Stray by InsaneScriptist

Beta'd by the illustrious Umei no Mai

Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.

* * *

><p>Living at Ottava's Manor was very different from what Xanxus was used to. He was fussed over, listened to, taught and trained. Well, after he had been examined, and checked out by the medical staff to check and see if he was secretly sick like his mother was, which was why she didn't make much sense beyond the mess drugs making a mess out of her brains. That was a bit weird but mostly painless since they drew blood to do tests on. Later he had been given shots to prevent him from getting ill.<p>

Ottava the old lady who took them in, treated him both as a person and as a cat, more or less interchangeably. His mother on the other hand, was now much saner than she had been previously. A lot of that had been explained to him as the effects of the drugs, and some of it as what people can do with Flames when they sucked at it and what he could eventually do.

Mist Flames were fucking wonderful for support usage and a hundred million other things but in actual combat they were less than ideal. He was happy that he would actually be able to use them, once he learned how. They looked to be very useful.

He could also use other Flames because he was a Sky. He just needed to learn how.

"Sky Flames are produced when the other Flame Elements are in harmony. Disrupting this harmony allows those rare individuals who are Skies to use all the individual facets of Dying Will Flames." The old, disapproving hag had explained. "This is only effective to a degree. Some techniques require a higher level of purity than what someone with Sky Flames are capable of. Don't worry, there are some things Sky Flames can do that others can't."

Ottava's Cloud Guardian, Adriana Visconti, was his main tutor of the basics. Mafia basics that is. She covered etiquette, manners, proper speech, made sure he knew how to read and wasn't faking it like some people managed to do in the slums. A number of his lessons under Signora Visconti were shared with his mother, such as those covering the history and traditions of the Vongola, its houses and its allies. This included classes about the various types of Dying Will Flames and how to use them and other weapons besides.

It wasn't as if all the lessons were structured into blocks, as Signora Visconti preferred a more free-form style of teaching. Usually she lectured while they were doing something else needed for learning the basics. At first it was a little distracting, but then it made sense to Xanxus as it kept him active and learning so he would be as strong in body as he would be in mind. Or that's how it was explained to him by his mother.

The old hag and former ballerina would lead him and his mother along in morning stretches, flexibility exercises and the like as she lectured about health, or how to turn something mundane into something deadly. The exercises doubled as warm ups for combat lessons later. Anatomy was also lectured about, each muscle group identified and named along with the ligaments and the tendons. The weak points of the human body were explained, as were how to make use of them. The theory and philosophy of different fighting styles was included, as well as how to make and break holds and how to punch and kick properly and how to incorporate the flexibility she was training into them for it as well. There were other lessons in the combat lessons like, for instance, how to anticipate and read who you were fighting, by watching for bodily cues. Then applications for that outside combat by playing card games and learning about different fashions.

Math exercises were incorporated into shooting lessons, addition and subtraction so that you knew how much ammo was left in the clip. It was not only handy for keeping track of how much ammo you've shot but also how the enemy shot at you, so you could shoot them while they were reloading. It was basic for any decent hitman to be aware of this like they were of their hands. This led into multiplication and more complex equations depending on the weapons used and how many.

The types and models of guns were endlessly fascinating to Xanxus, for all that he was only allowed to use them under supervision until he had proven to be proficient in using all the more common ones. Until then he'd have to settle for the knives he was learning to use under the firm instruction of the chefs and gardeners. Signora Visconti was a wire-master and used ribbons when she wanted to catch someone alive. While she was proficient in the use of knives, the chefs and gardeners were younger and had more stamina, so they were better to learn from.

Lessons under the old and cheerful man who was only known as 'Nebbia' were more on the mental aspects. Observation, intuition, perceptiveness, the murky business of keeping information away from underlings and when it was necessary to lie to them. The laws of the Mafia, trade agreements, economics, legalese and more. It was boring, necessary and sadly had to be learned by heart. Once that was done, Nebbia would get him started on other languages and culture, with some history tossed in as well.

Honestly, Xanxus preferred his history lessons with Nebbia as Nebbia made them far more entertaining than what Signora Visconti did. The fact that Nebbia used his Mist Flames to make the history come to life in front of him was a very impressive show of Mist Flames if a tad frivolous. Unfortunately, not all of his history lessons could be done that way as the brain would get sick from it.

They also played card games, not only for the math skills but reading people then too. Learning how to bluff, how to make others think what you wanted them to, and how to make them want to do things. How to conceal, finding tells and trusting your intuition were all included in the card games. Nebbia made them appreciably high-stakes for Xanxus; if he managed to make it out ahead in the games he could choose something else to learn during the time Nebbia had him. Generally, this led to lessons on how to use the Mist Flame or Flames in general when Xanxus won, or extra hours spent on the boring stuff when he was very motivated to win, so he concentrated hard and made an effort to use the skills required outside of those lessons as well.

The crazy old woman however was probably the best and worst teacher Xanxus had. She had exacting standards, rarely praised, but she could teach and Xanxus learned, even when it involved things he didn't want to learn. There were often unexpected lessons and quite often her antics were distractions interrupting the lessons he was getting because for all that she was retired the old lady was _busy_. Very busy, and happier for it, judging by the cackling going outside the window as she swung by on a wire outside, firing her crossbow on the unfortunates who were allowed to get past the perimeter so Daniela could make sure the rest of the staff and the household weren't rusty, herself included.

Xanxus, his mother and Signora Visconti ignored Daniela's cheerful playtime with her supposed assassins with ease of practice as Signora Visconti explained prisoner and ransom protocol. Or they did until Daniela managed to break the window using her one of her unfortunate would-be assassin as a battering ram, before swinging in herself.

"Come Xan-kitty and tie him up like Adriana was telling you about." The retired lady boss told him. "You too Marcella."

* * *

><p>After a long day of teaching and playing with assassins, Daniela held another meeting with her well-aged guardians.<p>

"So, a few of the household staff are going back to training. They've gotten sloppy. Is Marcella well enough to join in on that or does she need more time to develop the basic requirement of physical strength?" Daniela asked.

"Tossing her into the physical training will be a bit much for her at the moment." Adriana informed her fellow guardian and Boss. "Which means we should do it, have a Sun fix any muscle damage, and then repeat until she's able to meet the requirements. Her diet should be adjusted; more protein, more calories. She'll be needing it." Adriana replied. "Her stamina is pretty terrible at the moment."

"Well, she had been a civilian prior to that." Fedele replied as he referred to Marcella Eva Silvianni's time unwillingly spent as a mad woman and prostitute. She was more than a little angry about what had happened to her. Working her anger out physically instead of at an opponent or her son would be a better alternative.

"She's still grieving for who she was before she was a mother. She loves Xanxus, but he's also a reminder of things she can't recall and some horrors that she does." Daniela pointed out. "When she was insane all she cared about was her son and what he meant to her, so the adjustment is hard for her."

The three held a moment of silence for this sad fact. Marcella did not remember anything about Xanxus' father, her pregnancy, or Xanxus' first few months of life. Her first clear recovered memory of her child had him toddling and speaking broken sentences. That was as far back as they could recover; that Mist was no neophyte despite what he pretended to be. It made adjusting to sanity and motherhood that much more difficult for Marcella. She was basically a traumatized woman, handed a wonderfully astute and bloodthirsty child and expected to be a loving mother. She was at least trying to get to know her child, but it was difficult. There were lots of bonding moments lost forever, but that didn't mean more couldn't be created. Notably, Marcella was using her civilian education as a linguist to teach Xanxus her love of words and language.

"We did complete the search of the province for similar institutions and found two other hostels with a similar drug MO but no mental tampering." Fedele reported. "They have since been cleaned up and dissolved with the Medical Response Team taking the women in to rehabilitate and return them to their families. I expect that not many of them have families, much like Miss Silvianni."

"So we'll take them in if we find use for them?" Daniela replied bitterly. "I wish the Vongola was more like it was back when Primo ruled. People knew how to actually help each other then and made an effort to place everyone regardless of their skills and abilities." Daniela tried to do that too, but learned that she couldn't do that, not when she had subordinates who would fight and needed to be fed. War spared no one.

"Save your hero worship for Primo later. Xanxus is progressing well. Mentally, he's well above-average, but probably doesn't have a genius level intellect. He learns well and quickly, which he gets from his mother, as she had been working for her PhD when she was presumably kidnapped. Emotionally, he's a bit younger and a little stunted in a way that will benefit him should he ever become Varia. Until he's emotionally mature enough, attempts at socialization should be limited and heavily screened. It won't go well."

"His physical conditioning is going well, although he's not too happy with the flexibility exercises. His manners are coming along, although I think we will have a persistent problem with profanity for a while. He does catch on quickly and seems fascinated with weapons, guns specifically. I'm unsure if it is just a phase or if he's found his chosen weapon already." Adriana reported.

"It's probably the latter," Daniela said. "Reports from the staff say that while Xanxus is good for a kid his age with knives, he's not exactly in love with them. His knife lessons will still continue until he's proficient in handling them."

"Getting some of the Varia requirements out of the way already?" The Cloud Guardian asked. "The requirements would be pretty difficult for most to meet by sixteen, but it's possible since he's getting Heir-training. We know the Varia requirements can be met earlier but Heir-training is going to eat up a lot of time since there's so much more to that than the Varia requires and even then they require a lot. At least seven languages, flame-proficient, capable in at least two weapons and able to beat a member in hand-to-hand. Plus there's the mental aptitude test and more."

"Miss Silvianni can help with the languages, as she does know several and is teaching him too. Her family background is unusual, if you remember my report."

Unusual because despite the very Italian name she had, both parents were a mix of various nationalities, which did include a wide mix of possible body types. Xanxus could end up long and lean or tall and broad or slight like his mother. They had also checked on Marcella's parents and found that they were dead, as were most other close relatives. It smacked of a campaign of isolation to force the poor woman into the streets should she have ever gotten away from the whorehouse; which she would because the mental tampering would have made her do it.

"Yeah, which gives us no idea about what sort of body type her son is going to have. You saw the name of the father that the Blood-Lettering technique gave us." Adriana sighed. "Marcella can't even remember who the man was, let alone give us a description of what he was like. We even checked the university records to see if he was there, and asked about him from Marcella's friends and fellow students. There was mind-tampering on them as well. They can remember Marcella mentioning a date and a seemingly happy relationship but not much else before she disappeared and was forgotten about. She doesn't remember him at all."

"Red eyes aren't exactly a common feature, but black hair is. The texture and solid color support Asian blood somewhere but there's no telling how muddled it actually is. Was his father a quarter or what?" The retired boss asked the air, frustrated, as if it would giver her answers.

"The Blood-Lettering technique usually gets to three generations before errors start to appear. The fact that Xanxus' paternal grandparents' names can't be read either says that they know of the technique and developed a counter to it, and left Miss Silviana and young Xanxus like that or that someone else did it for them."

"So overly controlling grandparents, a playboy father who skipped out on responsibility after a year but not before or a pawn for some scheme." Adriana surmised, as she listed possibilities. None were exactly good but considering what had happened to Marcella, she was currently leaning towards 'pawn.' Daniela and Fedele knew where her thoughts were leading her.

A pawn for a Mist with a large grudge to so thoroughly wreck a probably happy family, and make it see like it was someone else's and fate's fault entirely. Honestly, they were just lucky enough that they caught Marcella early enough to recover her sanity and have her give them leads to follow up on. It wasn't like Marcella was carrying identification with her so they could find out who she actually was, and any later they wouldn't have been able to find traces of the mental tampering. Just madness and a complete dead end in terms of intelligence.

Technically they were altering her mind, but at least this way she would be useful and keep her in contact with her son. That would only happen if Marcella joined the Vongola in some capacity. Daniela had never been fond of separating a mother from their child as was traditional for a mistress' offspring but Daniela would if she needed to. That Marcella was traumatized was expected since her life had been up-ended, her mind turned into a broken playground and her body violated; they were just trying to avoid more of it. Fedele was far too adept at altering traumatized minds into function because of the War.

They weren't certain what part if any Xanxus' father played in it but Daniela did know one thing.

"We can't exactly change Xanxus' father or what happened. So our leads in a local scheme are dried up. Fedele, check more into the pawn theory and damn, do you think we get one of your grandchildren to conduct a search for my kitty's papa?"

"I'll try but you know how little we have to work on as a lead."

"So, onto lesson plans. When do you think Xanxus will be ready to face his first assassin?"

"Beyond the one you had him tie up?" Adriana asked.

"I want a good attempt, let close enough that the blood can spatter on him." Daniela smiled a toothy-smile. "If he makes his bones now, so much the better."

Adriana sighed. A lot of people forgot that Daniela had ruled the Vongola with an iron fist for two decades and that she hadn't got to where she was by being kind. She was caring but practical and constantly pushed people as far as they could be pushed without actually breaking. The 'eccentric old granny' image she projected was not at all indicative of what was underneath. Having Xanxus make his bones this young would prevent a number of future attempts, especially if they timed things right; and they would.

"That can be arranged." Fedele mentioned.

"So when?" Adriana asked.

"Let's give him a few months." Daniela offered. "It's as much as could be spared. We are old after all, one day we could not wake up after all."

"Pardon my doubts, but I believe we're enjoying our lives to much to do that anytime soon." Fedele countered. "Cheers? To health?"

"To wellness." Adriana rephrased.

"To my killer kitty!"

"Daniela!" Her Cloud Guardian scolded, but she was laughing too.


	5. Chapter 5

Stray by InsaneScriptist

Beta'd by the illusive Umei no Mai

Summary: Ottava was the one who picked up Xanxus and his mother. He gets known as Ottava's Stray and becomes head of the Varia anyway. Enter Sawada Tsunayoshi, Nono's heir and prospective Decima. Fem!Tsuna.

* * *

><p>"Is that crazy old lady shooting at those who failed her fitness requirements?" Xanxus asked abruptly in the middle of one of his lessons, hearing explosions and a cackle. Today Signora Visconti was teaching history and she sucked at it. Any other subject like math or science or literature or even etiquette and she was a good teacher. History however was not the hag's strong suit when it came to teaching; and she should be good at it since she had probably been around for most of it.<p>

If she was going to teach she should at least manage to make history as interesting as anything else.

"I don't know if the Ottava is." She replied but the quirk of her lips suggested that she was fairly certain that was what was going on.

"That's a probably isn't it, hag." Xanxus commented, realizing facts quickly and accurate; it also put him in a bad mood.

"Shut up and study." She told him, ignoring his statement entirely.

"I like Nebbia teaching history better." He muttered.

"You need to learn history from someone other than Nebbia since he only knows Vongola and Italian History well enough to teach it properly, brat."

"Fuck you bitch!" Xanxus yelled. He then found himself bound to the chair by ribbons that refused to burn along with an equally reluctant to burn chair. The ribbons were also quite capable of being a gag as he found.

"Silence is a virtue; now, I'm going to give you a quiz. For every answer you get wrong, there will be a penalty, on top of the one for your appalling language earlier. Silence also counts as a wrong answer. Now, in..."

Signora Visconti was an _evil_ and _horrible_ history teacher, Xanxus felt.

The chair and ribbons smoldered with his rage.

* * *

><p>A Mist Guardian willing and loyal to you was such an asset. Especially when you knew you could trust the man with anything, including but not limited to fooling the entire world. A small technique was writing down Marcella's mental state and thoughts on various things as the illusion on her brought them up. Bringing them up during a exercise run was a little cruel but working while distracted by something was a vital skill for any in the mafia. Daniela skimmed over it with both professionalism and sympathy.<p>

"They're a rather tightly bonded pair for all the trauma on her end." Daniela commented. "Her sanity is a bit shaky, but it should even out after the worst of the grieving is done. Your illusion is simply speeding up her coming to terms with what happened and her recovery."

It would be better when paired with Rain Flames, but dealing with shell-shocked individuals hadn't changed despite the trauma. It was just a matter of finding a Rain that was good enough to do so; they should probably bring in Alonza to this little operation.

"A lot of the mental damage is very similar to shell-shock from the war, especially those who suffered from the enemy famiglias with just a bit of tailoring."

Prior to the war, the mafia hadn't been nearly as bloody or violent. It had been headed that way, but World War Two merely sped it up by possibly decades in terms of violence, weapon technology and more. There were all those low class famiglias that had even gone and gotten themselves _caught by the police_; a number of the Vongola's Mists had been kept busy keeping information of the Vongola out of everything. The wider world had no idea of the Vongola's existence as anything but a modest multi-national corporation.

"Yes, it seems that way, but it's different. There's a lot of information about herself that she's going to have to relearn too. Her mother's maiden name is the least of it." Fedele commented.

"Yes, I've planned a few tests to gauge everything she remembers. I'm going to need a Rain nearby to reduce anxiety though. Eventually that illusion will condition her to be mentally steady and solid before it dissipates. After that, who knows?" Daniela commented blandly.

"She has very good reflexes. Still, I think she's more spy than hitman though... do you think we could get her into one of the Vongola's Intelligence Agencies? She's very good at languages for all that she probably needs to regain her former fluency in them. That shouldn't take too long though."

"Not as she is." The retired Ottava observed. She doubted that Marcella had the personal inclination for spying, lacked the confidence innately required for being a hitman, which left a lot of options that Marcella didn't have the option of going into because she hadn't been raised mafia. Her intellect made shunting her to management of information ideal but that wouldn't work out. To effectively manage in any sort of Intelligence Agency -be it CEDEF or Vongola's Intelligence itself, a person had to have a broad and in-depth knowledge all those the agency watched, which amounted to far too much to be taught effectively without years of work; even then old gossip from your grandpa could save your hide.

Assassination was an option but that took a certain type of person, which Marcella wasn't; yet anyway. The Mafia had a knack for changing people, often in bad ways. There were more options open, but those didn't and wouldn't allow Marcella to _thrive._ She didn't have the temperament for Housekeeping, would need more training to manifest Sun Flames and didn't have the training to be part of any of the medical teams. That more or less left teaching and she wasn't experienced enough to teach anyone regarding anything about the mafia -and wouldn't be trusted anyway- so it would have to be languages, likely at the Vongola's Mafia School; which she wouldn't survive doing until she had more experience to survive all the brats that went there. Plus without a decent background knowledge and knowing how and when to act, it would be a political disaster in the making.

Attaching her to the household would work for a short while, but no more than a year. A year to recover, gain plenty of experience and find a place in the mafia. It was a very tall order.

Nebbia hummed a note of discontent.

"Ah, well, she's lagging, so motivation time." Daniela responded as she through open the window, drew her crossbow and started shooting out at the feet of those lagging behind the pack, then as panicked yells started, Daniela jumped out the window to give chase.

"Twisting people's thoughts never settles right, even if it's for their own benefit." Fedele muttered. "I really should check on the boy."

The Mist Guardian then ended the technique, destroyed the evidence Ottava had been reading over and jumped out the window in a fashion similar to his Sky.

* * *

><p>Marcella Eva Silviani was a woman who was reinventing herself. At least this time, she was the one who was deciding what she was going to be, or at least was being allowed the illusion of choice. The Vongola wanted a return on their investment in getting her clean and healthy again, since she was sane enough to make it worth their effort. If she wasn't sane enough by mafia standards then she wouldn't be able to spend time with her son at all; Xanxus was her son even if she didn't remember giving birth to him or anything prior to that. If she wasn't able to meet the physical demands the Vongola made of her, then she would be limited to visiting him a few times a year.<p>

Protesting that would not work, even if she was certain that they were crazier than she was, is, whatever. Sanity, Marcella had learned, had no place in the mafia. At least the civilian definition of it certainly didn't.

Marcella would not say she was from an average civilian family, because they weren't; her father didn't have to labor day after day to feed them, her mother was able to spend time with her children and teach them languages, poetry and love. It really didn't matter much because all of them were dead.

Her father was nominally Italian but he was really a mix of a lot of other nationalities, much like her mother had been. From what she could tell, her possible boyfriend, her possible lover and possibly the father of her child had some Asian blood in him. She didn't know if the boyfriend she vaguely remembered her parents and sibling referring to was the same as the lover who had fathered her son, but she suspected and hoped he was. She just couldn't remember and it was likely that he didn't either, if he was even still alive.

It was utterly terrifying what she could and couldn't remember. She just had to breathe through her terror and use logic to figure out what had happened, and work with what she could and couldn't remember.

Luciano Silivani had been a large, broad figure willing to give her piggy back rides and encourage her in her studies, with a sharp wit. She wouldn't say he was a perfect father, he got annoyed when editors called about deadlines and book tours and signings. He was grumpy when he first woke up and growled until he had his coffee which transformed him from an ill-tempered polar bear into a person.

Roane Marie Silviani -oh, god, she couldn't remember her mother's maiden name, which was something else to re-familiarize herself with- was a devout Catholic, and spoke Ireland's native language as fluently as she did any other language she set her mind to learn. She worked as a translator and guide for fun and as a way to share her love of history with tourists and citizens alike. She was a sharp woman with an outrageously bold sense of humor and a knack for storytelling, which was the reason her father had fallen in love with her, or so the large white-blond man had proclaimed.

Her older brother, Riordan, who had inherited their mother's love for history and their father's for words had become a journalist. He had teased her about how she was the only coldly rational member of the family when she had portioned out the money from book royalties for bills and allowance alike; she remembered that her father had lamented about having an accountant for a daughter but he had said something with a smile that had made her feel better about his teasing.

She didn't remember what he had said and it was another thing to mourn for.

She had gone to university young and idealistic with a passion for linguistics; she had excelled academically despite managing to nearly fail English as a freshman. She remembered that the professor was an unmitigated bigot and utterly disgusting arse who couldn't teach nearly half as well as the thought he could. She did remember storming into the Dean's Office with fellow classmates but not what happened after except that an investigation occurred and the professor was fired for trading grades for sexual favors and other kick-backs; mostly because she had blackmailed the Dean into doing that.

She did remember one night the summer after her second year of undergraduate studies and how she, Elena and Romeo had gotten a bit too drunk and messed around. Romeo was Elena's boyfriend, but he was one of the few people Marcella had ever felt attracted to. Being hungover the next morning did not make explaining the fact that yes, she had lost her virginity in a drunken threesome any easier to tell her friends though. She remembered the friendship withering over that, which was disappointing as she had not thought Elena was that shallow because it had been her drunken suggestion that started it.

She knew from looking at her own son that his father was probably similar to Elena's Romeo though. Dark hair, provocative eyes and a hidden streak of kindness. Her son took a lot after his father, probably. Her son wasn't much like what little she remembered of her own father, he likely did take after his father except he expressed his kindness in a strange form of protective behavior. If a willingness to commit murder on her behalf could be considered a protective kindness, and as they were now part of the mafia, it did. Mafia sanity was not like civilian sanity.

Then there were the years she had spend working for her PhD in linguistics, which she hadn't actually achieved due to someone's meddling. She also didn't have any family due to the same meddling. An auto accident killed her parents when the driver lost control of their car, while a mugging gone wrong killed her older brother. Aunts, uncles and cousins also suffered the same fate within the year; Death had taken all of them.

All she had now was her son, a half-broken mind and her body.

A body that now disgusted her, as she knew what had happened to it, for all that she didn't remember everything. She had clear impressions, memories of painful touches and doing things that disgusted her.

But now, she had more. She had the support of Ottava and through her, the Vongola and the love of a bright and flourishing son and her own sanity. If the Vongola asked, she'd kill for them as it wouldn't, couldn't be much worse than what she had already gone through.

As it stood though, she was quite willing to kill that meddling old lady for forcing this level of physical fitness on her by shooting crossbow bolts at her, when she was certain she hadn't done anything like this in her life!

* * *

><p>"Having trouble?" Fedele asked mildly, looking at the scene.<p>

Daniela's youngest stray was thoroughly wrapped in Adriana's ribbons infused with Cloud Flames. His ankles were bound to the chair's legs, while the rest of him was bound to the seat and the back. Judging by the bulges, Xanxus' arms were bound behind him. The only part of his head that was visible was his dark hair topped with equally dark cat ears, his angry eyes and the area around his nose that he was breathing deeply through; clearly Xanxus had lost his temper again. Possibly for language, judging by the gag.

Adriana's Cloud-infused ribbons had proved to be effective at restraining brats during temper tantrums, as well as any other prisoner. Admittedly, restraining this stray was taking its toll on the ribbons, as they were starting to turn to actually _burn_. Wrath Flames clearly were far more destructive than any other flame if they were managing _that_ when Adriana had held numerous well-trained and powerful people easily inside those same ribbons.

Xanxus was thoroughly restrained. He clearly tried to say something but all it confirmed to Fedele was that Adriana had gagged him, _thoroughly_.

His fellow Guardian had very definitely lost her normally well restrained temper.

"Whatever is the issue this time?" He asked.


End file.
